Lavon Parks, also known as Dutch, and his father James C. Parks, both residents of Niagara Falls, New York, have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms following their convictions for crimes related to drug trafficking and a fatal shooting. U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo handed down a 30-year sentence to Lavon Parks and a 20-year sentence to James C. Parks.
The two were found guilty after a jury trial of participating in a narcotics conspiracy, discharging a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and causing death by firing a weapon. Lavon Parks was additionally convicted of attempting to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and possessing a firearm while engaging in drug trafficking.
Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Richard Antoine said that between May 2017 and March 2019, the defendants conspired to sell cocaine in the Niagara Falls and Buffalo areas. On January 21, 2018, Kevin Turner was shot and killed outside a residence on Niagara Street in Niagara Falls. According to evidence presented at trial, Turner had recently moved from Buffalo and was involved in selling crack cocaine near the location where he was murdered.
Government prosecutors showed that Lavon Parks and James Parks were seen driving around the area before the shooting took place. Surveillance video placed a truck registered to Lavon Parks’ then-girlfriend near the scene both before and after Turner’s death. Ballistics from the crime matched a gun recovered about two weeks later from another individual who was not present at the time of the shooting but had acquired it through illegal channels connected to Lavon Parks.
The investigation uncovered several controlled purchases involving Lavon Parks as well as significant seizures: authorities confiscated roughly 8.5 kilograms of cocaine and $52,000 sent via postal parcels from Puerto Rico to various states including New York, Florida, Alaska, Georgia, and Pennsylvania using the United States Postal Service. These shipments were directed toward co-conspirators within those states; investigators also identified $55,700 sent back to Puerto Rico as payment for drugs.
Multiple agencies participated in investigating this case: The Niagara Falls Police Department led by Superintendent Nicholas Ligammari; Drug Enforcement Administration under Special Agent-in-Charge Farhana Islam; Federal Bureau of Investigation under Special Agent-in-Charge Philip Tejera; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under Special Agent-in-Charge Bryan DiGirolamo; and U.S. Postal Inspection Service under Acting Inspector-in-Charge Nicholas J. Bucciarelli.
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